Reflection in the Mirror: Amedeo Modigliani
Our mothers are both our mirrors and our opposites.
Mother’s Day is celebrated on different days and dates around the world, but for many of our readers it will be on May 8th. For those who are still with us and for those who have passed on, our mothers shaped our lives in very individual ways. From Paris, France to Brooklyn, New York, with many stops in between, the theme of style and taste are a scented thread between them. Our “eaux des” to our mothers as written by Gérald Ghislain, Anya McCoy, Ida Meister, Mark Behnke, Mary Beth Devine and Michelyn Camen.
JE REVIENS-HAUTE COUTURE-MEMORIES / by Gerald Ghislain, Perfumer
When evoking this wide range of philosophical scents, I am alluding to the intense souvenirs of my mother’s…haunting perfume. Just like the title: “Je Reviens” by Worth.
Typically Parisian, this perfume reminds me of the subtle feminine grace of my mother, and of the way she dressed at that time, a mirror of the pure elegance. Not only is it a reflection of the Parisian elegance but the both floral and spicy”Je Reviens” is also bound to my exotic childhood, beating the rhythm of the Moroccan days full of oriental scents, such as Rose, Jasmine, or Orange. (Self- confident, I recognize myself in the strong and intense scents of vetiver and incense…). Perhaps because somewhere, somehow, I bear my mother’s signature.
This feminine scent which is at the same time exotic and Parisian-like,has inspired me throughout my creations.
Perfumes, especially in one’s childhood, are to my mind, at the very root of one’s passion. My acute nostalgia for a floral breeze in North Africa, or my mother’s dazzling smile influenced me for this French precious know-how… to give birth to Histoires de Parfums.
I believe that “Je Reviens”, which can be literally translated by “I am Returning” symbolizes both the present and the future. It involves repetition, like a sort of leitmotiv to remind me of this fresh and vivid souvenirs. I could say,”refreshening” my past olfactive memories.
“Je Reviens” could be synonymous to an autobiographical book, forming part of my scented library offering a wide range of “perfume characters.
The aldheydes blurr the line between all these scents to create the ultimate fragrance, combining the Mediterranean atmosphere of my youth with the sophisticated and refined Parisian style of my mother, memories of the past, of the present, memories from here to eternity with “Je Reviens”…”I am Returning” to this breathtaking world of scents, which is now animating my ideas…
“Liz” 1966
Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived. -Helen Keller/ By Anya MCCoy
My mother, called Liz by everyone, even though her first name is Anne, like mine, introduced me to perfume and art, two passions I still have. As a child, my mother’s wealthy parents often traveled to Europe by ocean liner (it was the 20s) to visit family. My grandmother Catherine always made a stop in Paris to replenish her perfume supply. At 91, my mother still speaks wistfully of the beautiful bottles on her mother’s vanity. I have picked up on the Art Deco images subconsciously, and I realize that the model I have had drawn for the two Natural Perfumers Guild projects, and the lettering, are Art Deco. To me, that was the beginning of several decades of glorious perfume making, and my mind always turns to that time, and those perfumes.
It was recognized that I was pefume crazy by the age of two, and my mother and her friends would give me their almost-empty perfume bottles to sniff and I would dab away to my heart’s content. I think now what classics I must have been using in the early 50s! When I showed a real interest in art a few years later, I remember my mother showing me how to draw, and I often wanted to reproduce perfume ads or images on perfume boxes. I distinctly remember White Shoulders image, with the lady with the upswept hair.
Mom definitely loved the heavy, sensual scents, like Shocking by Schiaparelli, and Toujours Moi by Dana, but she also could go “green” with Chanel 19, whereas I was a Chanel No.5 girl from childhood (still Deco!). Mom looked in me at puzzlement a few years ago when I was talking about the Internet-fueled crazy for vintage Coty Chypre. I was pronouncing it literally, and she said “isn’t it ‘sheep'” and I realized that she could still tell me a thing or two about perfume. Turns out that iconic perfume was my grandmother’s favorite, and one my mother remembers the most, along with Un Air Embaume. In the past few years, I have been able to obtain vintage bottles, some unopened, of all of the scents she loved, and I bring a little refilled bottle to her at the nursing home every now and then.
Don’t hoard those fragrant beauties…wear them /by Ida Meister, Senior Editor
Oh, Estelle.
Beautiful, talented, tormented Estelle…
It’s two years since you passed; I went through your things, and found all the unused perfumes I’d sent you, chosen purely for your pleasure alone.
There they lay- a clandestine love sonnet to my mother’s former elegance and taste: Vintage Sortilège, Chanel # 22, Guerlain’s Liu, Lanvin’s Arpège of yore. Jardin de Bagatelles, released in 1983, the year B and I wed- purchased for you on our honeymoon. She was saving them.
How Estelle loved flowers, loved her gardens, loved having her once-lovely, then horribly contorted arthritic hands in the life-giving earth. Taurus in the extreme, that woman, and one tough broad.
My father was perfume-adverse, so my mother only wore a few drops when she went out with friends; in later years, after he was no longer present, she couldn’t seem to ‘break the habit’. She would always appreciate the way I managed to “smell divine “, thank goodness. I kept her in Shalimar and everything else I could think of; but it lay fallow, like untilled soil, unable to bear fruit…
How very tragic.
Oh, my dear friends: don’t wait ! Don’t hoard those fragrant beauties…wear them! Share them! Give pleasure to yourselves, and others. When we have passed…it is too late. A loving Mother’s Day to you all. Nurturing comes not by birth or gender alone- Those who truly love unconditionally mother us all .
A Mother’s Lessons/ by Mary Beth Devine, Editor
She should be dead several times by now. Instead she’s 5’2” and 138 pounds of “I’ll show you and your pretty dog, too!”
She abandoned a dream of a career in science to put a brother through school.
She worked in what’s now termed “investor relations” and found a niche in photography and writing.
She taught my kid brother how to swing a golf club and toss a football.
She insisted I learn the ladylike skills of piano, ballet, embroidery, and, yes, tea pouring.
She buried a son in his childhood, dealt with one with a chronic, life threatening disorder, and sent her youngest off to war more than once. Through it all, she kept her pain and doubts and fears to herself and her G_d. She, with rare exception, put one foot in front of the other and just got on with it.
She grew roses in the backyard of the first house I remember. Day lilies, lily of the valley, and violets, too. She cut them on summer afternoons and put them around the house. She insisted that a couple of them move when we did.
Her bureau drawer has her treasured scents – Enthousiasme, No. 22 EdC, Joy in several manifestations, several types of lily of the valley, Ecusson (Has it been that long since I’ve been to Europe?), White Linen, and several variants of tuberose. Mommy, I love you dearly, but please, enough tuberose!!!
She’s had cancer, cancer, almost cancer, an arthymia she blames on her Catholicism, and a dent in her head from a TBI that damned near killed her and took us all along for the rehab ride. By taking us on that one-year roller coaster ride, she taught us not even strength, but rather raw gustiness – the kind brought on by being told how bleak the future might be and being determined to prove the experts wrong.
The staff in ICU told me to wear a perfume she would recognize. I had a signature then (only because I had a beau). Her finger moved even though the rest of her was frozen by a bounced brain.
In rehab, I brought her goodies – bath gels, and lotions. Mostly her prized English lavender and a favorite green tea. She learned to feed herself and walk the same year her second grandson was learning the same thing. She taught me to fight for what’s mine, ignore the small stuff (I’ll find that Hoover someday!), respect the reality, accept it, and carry it on.
Perfume: It Speaks Volumes About You / by Mark Behnke, Managing Editor
I couldn’t be more different from my mother when it comes to perfume.
My mother has only worn two fragrances her entire life; Guerlain Mitsouko and Guerlain Shalimar.
I have worn two fragrances in the last twelve hours.
Based on that comparison you might say that I learned nothing from my mother when it comes to perfume.
That wouldn’t be accurate.
My mother wears those two classic Guerlain fragrances because they are emblematic of how she wants the world to see her.
They show a sense of style.
They impart a bit of luxury.
They are not so unusual that one hasn’t smelled them before but they are not worn by every woman on the street.
To sum up my mother would be a classic upscale stylish woman and, if I asked her, I think she would describe herself as that. Her perfume gives an olfactive clue to the person wearing it and she makes those scents her own. I can’t smell either fragrance and not think of my mother.
What does that say about her son? Well I’ve been described as an extroverted polymath. I would say my diverse perfume wearing tastes also reflect the person wafting his scent of the day and I embrace my perfume promiscuity. On the other hand I am sure there is no one scent that anyone will ever be able to say brings me to mind.
Ma, 1962
The Fashionsita Perfumista: The First Generation “A portrait of Ma”/ by Michelyn Camen Editor in Chief
I still call my mother ‘Ma’. She has Style She has Grace She’s a Lady. All who know her would agree.
I was 5 yrs old in 1962 when this photo was taken; Ma was 25 with two children. I know because she said so. And those eyes askance? Looking at me!
Ma called me ‘her little doll’ as a child, and from grade school on she started to sing our family cheer “I am proud of you song”. She sang it me last month. She sings it my nieces and to my sister.
We didn’t have much money. We lived in a basement apartment in Brooklyn, but even then Ma was THE Fashionista Perfumista (see above). Dad worked two jobs, so she had plenty of time to fuss over me, play with me, read to me, sing to me. Ma dressed me up like a doll. In her eyes I was a beautiful; trust me I was not a candidate for the Gerber’s baby ad. Fast Forward ten years.
I remember she was the most beautiful mother in school. She wore Rudy Gernreich. She had the shape for it. Ma still does. She bought his designs because they looked well on her, not because of the label. She entered the room, and all eyes were on her. At my Dad’s 50th birthday party, his good friend Natie, a teamster told this story, “And who the H^* is this woman with a black hat and peacock feather making such a grand entrance into our Temple; he had a way with words, may he RIP.
Books, music and museums … Modigliani, Picasso, the classics, contemporary novels. Jazz music. The door into the world of imagination was held wide open and I walked right through.
Fragrances of Ma “Riffs”: 1950s-1960s Brooklyn, Jean Nate, White Shoulders and Arpege. 1970s-1980so:Bal a Versailles, Joy de Patou, Shiseido Zen, Calyx.
.Her mother passed, my beloved Grandma away in 1981. And a piece of Ma went too.1990s: fragrant bonding -Bergdorf’s and Barney’s (yes along way from a Brooklyn apt) Together we discovered the original Queens of Niche: Antonia’s Flowers, Annick Goutal and Jo Malone…Heure Exquise, Grand Amour, Amber Lavender by Bertrand Duchaufour (of course I had no idea that Jo wasn’t creating all her own fragrances and what was a Duchaufour). 2000-2010: Penhaligon’s Violetta and Jo Malone Blue Agave and Cacao.
Ma and Michelyn: Mother’s Day 2007
Ma’s signature scent now? Van Cleef and Arpel’s Orchidee Vanille Eau de Parfum. We found it Together.
Editor’s Note: Initially I wanted this piece to have no draw or gimmicks. The eloquence of our Special Guest Contributors and our Editors would be enough. But I was thinking about seeing Ma tomorrow and how much I miss her, so just hours ago I asked Ineke Ruhland personally to offer “After My Own Heart” for a CaFleureBon’s Mother’s Day Draw. “Of course”, she said,” how wonderful”. The fragrance smells like fresh sweet lilacs, and evokes the scent of summer in Ma’s garden. No other perfume would do for a ‘lady after my own heart’.
To be eligible for this draw please leave a comment about your mother and her perfume, just wish your Mom a Happy Mother’s Day and if you would like your comment to be counted twice, choose your favorite fragrance from http://www.ineke.com/
Draw closes 2 PM EST May 10, 2011. Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at CaFleureBon!